Mikhail S Gorbachev

Former Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev said Russia's leaders must act quickly if they want to avoid being overthrown. "I said last month that the situation in Russia was difficult and dangerous. I fear the same could be said today," he told the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. Gorbachev said the government has not done enough to explain its radical economic reform program, which has sent prices skyrocketing.

Move over, Scarlett Johansson. Mikhail Gorbachev is the new face of Louis Vuitton. The former Soviet leader is to appear in an ad campaign for the French luxury label, along with Steffi Graf and her husband, Andre Agassi, and Catherine Deneuve, the company said Thursday. Shot by photographer Annie Leibovitz, the ads focus on travel -- a "core value" for the company that started in 1854 as a trunk maker, the statement said.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev says Russia's government should be fired because of bungled social policy changes. Gorbachev, who came to power 20 years ago and presided over the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, criticized an attempt to scrap Soviet-era social benefits and replace them with cash payments. The steps sparked protests by pensioners angered by the comparatively small sums they were to receive. The ministers aren't following policies set out by President Vladimir V.

Former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, 75, appeared to be recovering well after an operation on his carotid artery in Germany, authorities said. "The patient is doing well," said a spokesman for Munich University Hospital. The carotid arteries are the main suppliers of blood to the brain and can narrow or become clogged with cholesterol plaque.

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev will be invited to address a joint session of Congress on Dec. 9, the third day of his summit visit, a spokesman for House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) said Tuesday. Spokesman Wilson Morris told reporters, "The Administration has requested a joint meeting for Gorbachev to address the Congress on Dec. 9 at 10 a.m." Wright said "fine," according to Morris.

Relative calm returned to the Armenian capital of Yerevan on Saturday after an appeal by Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev to halt demonstrations backing the return of an Armenian-majority region in the adjacent republic of Azerbaijan. Factories in Yerevan were operating and street crowds, which swelled to hundreds of thousands of people during the week, were said to be smaller, Soviet television reported.

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev said Sunday that some of his nation's economic and social problems will take 10 or 15 years to overcome but added that there is no time to lose in starting work on solutions. On international issues, Gorbachev accused the West of failing to match its words with deeds on nuclear arms reduction in what he termed a "dearth of realistic politics."

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev arrived in Romania on Monday to a lavish mass welcome from a nation that has long been a difficult Kremlin ally. President Nicolae Ceausescu, who has openly scorned some of the Soviet Union's current reforms, kissed the Soviet leader three times after Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, stepped from an Ilyushin 62 Aeroflot jet at Bucharest's airport.

Excerpts from speeches and interviews of the ousted Soviet leader: Sticking to his Guns * "I think if I had to begin again this whole process I would certainly have done it again. Now that I know more about my country and the world, I am even more convinced that what we are beginning was necessary but we should have begun much earlier, 10 or 20 years earlier, or maybe more." July 19, 1991, interview at the Soviet Embassy in London for ITN.

Conservative die-hards and reformers went to war Tuesday for the hearts and minds of the Soviet Communist Party, with Yegor K. Ligachev denouncing the Gorbachev era's "reckless radicalism" and other leaders defending policies that stripped the "evil empire" label from their nation. One day after President Mikhail S.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev says Russia's government should be fired because of bungled social policy changes. Gorbachev, who came to power 20 years ago and presided over the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, criticized an attempt to scrap Soviet-era social benefits and replace them with cash payments. The steps sparked protests by pensioners angered by the comparatively small sums they were to receive. The ministers aren't following policies set out by President Vladimir V.

With two special guests this month and next, UC Irvine makes itself a little larger on the world peacemaking map. Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet president whose political reforms helped spark the collapse of communist governments in the 1990s, will be at the Irvine Barclay Theater on Tuesday night to accept UCI's inaugural Citizen Peacebuilding Award. University officials said they were honoring Gorbachev, who received the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize, for his contributions to world peace.

Elem Klimov, the internationally acclaimed Russian film director who helped win release of banned motion pictures under the liberalized rule of former Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, has died. He was 71. Klimov died Oct. 26 in a Moscow hospital. He had been in failing health for several years, but the cause of death was not announced.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev was admitted to a Moscow hospital, but a spokesman said he was just suffering from fatigue. Gorbachev, 70, recently completed a grueling round of trips that had taken a toll, the spokesman said. He said Gorbachev had felt unwell and that during a routine checkup a doctor recommended he be hospitalized. Gorbachev, who resigned as Soviet leader 10 years ago, now heads a foundation and often travels abroad.

It's been nearly 10 years since Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the first and last "president" of the Soviet Union, was driven from power by the very forces of democracy he unleashed. These days, he's president of the Moscow-based Gorbachev Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to promoting disarmament and environmental causes. In the space above his desk, once reserved for the portrait of Soviet founder Vladimir I.

Russian and foreign dignitaries paid tribute Friday to former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, marking his 70th birthday with flair in a country where most people dismiss the legacy of his reforms. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and even his predecessor, Boris N. Yeltsin--Gorbachev's bitter rival even after the 1991 collapse of communism--led the congratulations for the architect of perestroika, whose reforms opened up Soviet society.

Estonia. A column of more than 100 light armored vehicles and trucks was reported to be on the move toward the Estonian capital, Tallinn. Latvia. Soviet soldiers seized control of Latvian broadcast studios and the central telephone exchange. One report said two people were wounded. Lithuania. President Vytautas Landsbergis called for acts of non-violent civil disobedience. Moldavia.

Mikhail Gorbachev brokered nuclear arms agreements, brought democratic reform to the Soviet Union and oversaw the end of the Cold War. He's a world stage kind of guy. On Thursday, he shared a stage in Anaheim with William Shatner. On Friday, he spoke to an Orange County German club. Next Sunday, the man who invented perestroika will take to the pulpit at the Crystal Cathedral, followed by country singer Naomi Judd. And he's getting paid well--extremely well.

Mikhail S. Gorbachev brokered nuclear arms agreements, brought democratic reform to the Soviet Union and helped oversee the end of the Cold War. He's a world-stage kind of guy. On Thursday, the former Soviet president shared a stage in Anaheim with William Shatner. On Friday, he spoke to an Orange County German club. A week from Sunday, the man who invented perestroika will take to the pulpit at Crystal Cathedral, followed by country singer Naomi Judd. And he's getting paid well--extremely well.